Review: ‘Kell on Earth’

Program does a poor job of capturing exactly what distinguishes Kelly Cutrone's form of publicity.

The infatuation with all things fashion spills over to publicist supreme Kelly Cutrone in “Kell on Earth,” another pithy title seemingly in search of a series to go with it. As producer and “star,” Cutrone holds forth about her commitment to her seven-year-old kid, then shows off for the tyke by getting bleeped saying variations of “fuck” 16 times in the premiere (including the “this season” tease). Mostly, it’s another one of those shows with a penchant for the obvious — like the revelation that fashion week is stressful, and minions get pushed around by their demanding bosses.

For all the time that “Kell” spends in Cutrone’s face (and not to be bitchy, but couldn’t she at least comb her hair?), the program does a poor job of capturing exactly what distinguishes Cutrone’s form of publicity, other than kissing the asses of designers and hobnobbing with Ashley Dupre — the high-class call girl in the Eliot Spitzer scandal — who turns up at one of the shows, to the designer’s chagrin.

The action, such as it is, focuses on Cutrone and her partners as they race to mount 10 “fashion week” presentations. The supporting cast includes her gay assistant (who she tries to fix up) and a few telegenic lower-level employees, whose struggles are the most identifiable aspect of an otherwise-dreary exercise.

No crying in the office,” Cutrone curtly tells the staff during a meeting, exposing the unexpected common ground apparently shared by fashion PR and baseball.

Cutrone’s company is called People’s Revolution, but there’s nothing particularly revolutionary about the top-down pecking order, the milieu, or the image of hard-charging female execs in the fields of fashion and style, which has become a Bravo staple.

The only wrinkle, in fact, is to make those feeling over-worked and under-appreciated in their own public-relations jobs experience pangs of gratitude that they didn’t go straight to Kell.